Teaching situational defense to young players

[PA SB Dad]

At 8U, keep it simple. Get the out at first. ALWAYS.

At 10U, I teach "situational" defense by teaching base running first. Teach the girls how and when to take the extra base against a team. Once they get that part, it is much easier to translate base running to what you want to do and prevent on defense.

 

[bmakj]

KISS - main thing I stress, on ground ball, go to 1B

love the idea of the freeze drill, slows the game down for them in practice situation, should help to cement it home

you teach baserunning and situational defense together in practice , so they understand why they are going to a certain base with the ball when they catch it (ie they hear you instruct the baserunners, then you ask or instruct the fielders, I like to ask first, sometimes pleasantly surprized, but this way when you explain, it is in context of what runners are trying to do or might do, not just abstract).

For preparation before the pitch, I am teaching WOW - Where are the baserunneers, Outs (how many are there), Where do I go with the ball on a ground ball or caught fly ball. each player should be thinking this BEFORE each pitch, with most (especially infield ) with option A and option B

sometimes best instruction on situational defense comes during a game believe it or not. last season (10u little league), we were visitor, bottom of last inning, score tied (last inning due to time limit). 1 out. runner on 3B (cannot recall if any other baserunners), I call time, gather infield, stress to them, we go home on any ball in play. yell it before every pitch (not crazy yelling, just to be heard). don't tell them WHY, just want them focused on WHAT they are to do. next batter is a K. now I tell them easiest, simplest play (this is something I say over and over again, they can go for lead runner, but if there is an easier play make that one. fly ball, F5 for the out to end the game. then I do not let them in the dugout. I keep them on field, and ask them if they know why we would go home instead of 1B (now that I recall, bases were not loaded, so HP was not a force) when there was 1 out. kinda blank stares, I explain that game was tied, if runner on 3B scores, game over, other team wins. I can see on about 2/3 of their faces they get it. love those moments, it clicked, they understood the WHY, not just the WHAT.

in the end, KISS. fundamentals are much more important than situational defense until you get probably to 14u, and the beauty of the game is coach can "teach" during the game, by giving instructions between pitches.

 

[PlayPerfect]

A couple posters already said it. Get the out at first every time. Very rarely at that age group will it be anywhere else, unless its the force at 3rd or home and the throw is coming from 3B, SS or P. You will NEVER get a force at second. Ever. It just doesn't happen. Your SS and 2B should be playing in, 8 to 10 feet in front of the baseline.. Kids just don't hit it hard enough. You have to play in. They are too far away to cover second at that age level. Even at 14U, a force at second is still quite rare and even at high school level, the ball has to be hit sharply or towards second to get a force at 2nd. A properly coached baserunner takes their lead ON EVERY SINGLE PITCH RELEASE for as long as they play the game, without fail. and that runner at first just keeps running when they see its down on the ground. Advantage baserunner. 8U and 10U is all about catching infield pop ups, and getting the out at 1.

 

[bmakj]

Playperfect , very valid points, but it brings up an interesting conundrum. Yes, at lower levels very little chance of play at 2B (or at 3B unless hit hard to F1, F6, or F5), especially since best glove will most of time be at F3. But the question becomes, what is best for the girls development? This year (10u LL softball), I am telling all my parents flat out up front, we will be attempting a lot of plays this year we have little to no chance of making. Why? because they need to learn how, and they will only learn how by trying and failing, sometimes a lot. big example I use is throwing out runner stealing 2B. with the arm strength they have, and fielding ability at F4/F6 normally available, I think chances are 1 in 20 a 10u LL team makes this play, outside of baserunning error. but I am going to let my girls try on any pitch where 3B is empty, and the C catches pitch cleanly (also going to push hard to have a rule mod or gentleman's agreement with other coaches not to take extra base when ball inevitably scoots to CF).

A balance has to be struck between using strategy aimed towards winning and strategy aimed at development. It is a delicate balance. That being said, usually when discussing what to do on a given play with my team, I always try to end with telling them it is never wrong to go to 1B on an infield ground ball. kind of like a safety net to fall back on.

KISS. lots of these girls are thinking about the test tomorrow. KISS. some of them are thinking about who Sally said likes them at lunch that day. KISS. some are thinking about what to ask mom/dad for from concession stand after the game.

 

[Osric]

ball, base, backup. Ball, base, backup. Ball, base, backup.

I probably said that at least 50 times in each practice at 12u and below. Every time the ball is hit, everyone should be moving in the direction of the ball. If someone else is going to get it before you, look for the closest base that you should be covering. If there is no base to cover, you should be backing something up.

Get them in this mind set first.

As far as situation plays go, make sure that they understand what a force out is and all (amazing how many 8u and 10u kids don't understand when an out can be made at a base other than first). Priority should always be to get the out at the base where they are headed. Otherwise, default to 1st base.

And NEVER get mad at them for not getting a force at 2nd or 3rd if they get the out at 1st. Getting an out is the most important thing. If they are moving towards 2nd or 3rd when they field the ball and there is a play there, then encourage them to get that out. If they are coming forward to get the ball, unless they can tag a runner running in front of them, they should probably get the out at 1st. I can't begin the number of runs that are let in because a fielder tries to get an out at 2nd or 3rd and ends up extending the inning because they weren't in a good position to throw to that base.

At 8U and 10U, my only priority is to get an out. At 12u, I'll encourage getting an out at another base. But even now that I'm JV coach, I'd take an easy out at 1st over a tough play elsewhere 90% of the time.

 

[wave_twister]

8u and situations...oh boy...

DD's 8u rec team was everything to 1B. If ball is hit to left side of field, ball goes to 2B or 3B wherever lead runner is going. But in the end everything went to 1B lol.

Focus on the girls moving as a team to where they need to be if the ball is hit left or right side of field with the "center" line going from home to 2B all the way to the fence. I remember it was as easy as rolling a ball to either side and just letting the girls get into their coverage positions, no live running with hurried throws etc. Just let them process moving in the right direction and to the right spot...and then everything naturally seemed to go to 1B lol.

After that everyone wants to play "tag" so if the ball didn't go to 1, it went to whatever bag the girls saw someone running to. Yes, coaches always try to reinforce "the next level" but they're just cute little girls having fun.

From there it's tough because many of the girls still don't know the count, who's up next to bat (hell I feel like this part never ends), etc. Situations become exponentially more confusing for 8u players imo the more parts you add.

10u is definitely more processing power, maybe 2 things.

8u travel girls tend to be "different" than the rec type who may show up to practice once in 2 weeks, show up to a game, gone for a week, then comes all the time, etc. That was my rec league experience at least...and back then 8u was coach pitch, no player pitching back then.

 

[jesdad]

All great ideas imo. I to teach situations and base running together. I think it helps but who knows. I also use ROW to Know and give the girls "homework". Keep it fun and low key but surprising how much they pick up from the cards. I'm not affiliated or have anything to gain from the cards, just a good tool.

 

[bmakj]

- During play: Ball, base, backup - if I do this, 95% of the time I will be in a reasonable position even in unfamiliar situations.

like this, gonna steal this, 3 Bs of fielding, big problem at young levels is they think their position (ie =2B) defines everything they do, you get situations where ball is hit into gap between F3 and F4, F4 runs to cover 2B. got to stress that first responsibility is to field ball if possible. exception to this at this level is F3. I told my F3s at 8u (granted ours was coach pitch, so no bunting), that they could take no more than 3-steps to field a ball, otherwise cover 1B. I think it is too much to absorb at that age for them to grasp concept of F4 covering 1B.

 

[Easton33]

I like to tell the girls to let the ball lead you or follow the ball. SS never goes past 2nd base and 2nd base never goes past 2nd. There are very few scenarios where this will not have your player in the correct position

 

[bmakj]

I like to tell the girls to let the ball lead you or follow the ball. SS never goes past 2nd base and 2nd base never goes past 2nd. There are very few scenarios where this will not have your player in the correct position

what if they should be covering a base? say ball hit to SS, is F3 supposed to follow the ball? they need to cover. likewise, P needs to backup base/HP depending on where lead runner is, not chase ball if it goes past them.